Minnesotans Out Working, Having Fun In The Heat

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A lot of people might spend the day inside on Thursday, when heat indexes were expected to hit over 110 degrees.

But Minnesotans are as tough in the heat as they are in snow. So many are outside.

"It gets real sweaty, that is for sure," said Bjorn Sorenson, who was working the Rusty Taco food truck.

He said the heat felt almost dangerous.

"You gotta make sure you hydrate," he said. "People forget that if you're cooking over a hot grill...it can get pretty bad."

Related: Extreme Heat Resources

But if you don't have to work outside, for some, the heat is an excuse to head to the local pool.

"Immediately I thought about spending all day in the water somehow," said a parent in St. Louis Park.

The Splashpad in that city was packed with kids Thursday.

One-year-old Olivia and 10-year-old Trinity couldn't get enough soaking up the sun.

Meanwhile, parents got a break from being kept indoors.

But even if you're having fun in the sun, it's still dangerously hot.

During the 21 years of the Aquatennial Tennis Classic, players and fans can remember hot days on the court and in the stands. But they've felt nothing like Thursday.

"We've had a few hot days, but I don't know if it's been this hot with this type of humidity," said Lisa Mushett of USTA Northern.

Doubles teams were given more time on changeovers and they were allowed to sit in the shade. But it was still advantage Mother Nature, and not just on the tennis court.

"A lot of times people feel nauseated first. They think they ate something funny or 'I have a little bit of the flu,'" said Dr. Jim Miner, chief of emergency medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center.

Miner says it is not unusual on days of extreme heat to see people overheat and not really know it. Once your body temperature gets over 102 degrees, it becomes dangerous.

"The main way we cool people off is we will get a wet blanket on a person and put a fan on them," Miner said. "Having that water come off really cools them off as fast as we can come up with."

He says heat exhaustion happens when enzymes shut down in your body. That is when doctors worry about kidney failure, muscle breakdown and seizures.

But while so many people were struggling to beat the heat, Carl Lobley may have had the coolest job in town. He was stocking the cooler at Chicago Lake Liquors in Minneapolis, where it is 40 degrees inside. It is a 50-plus-degree swing from outside.

"When I walk out there on the floor I can feel the temperature change. So, I'm actually fine in here. It's actually feeling amazing," Lobley said.